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I took a walk in a quiet place. In it, there were many souls from ancient times. They were from Greece and Italy, Sumeria and Egypt, Persia and Etruria. The voices were silent but the souls were coming through loud and clear, on a Friday afternoon on the eastern edge of Central Park.
I had just interviewed a gentleman about his life, his book and things Italian. But we didn?t quite make a connection. How could you do anything in 15 minutes, except perhaps to size each other up like two bulls in a ring? Not that it was that kind of encounter. I left feeling the need to reconnect with my roots, so I hopped on a subway and headed back a couple of thousand years, to interview the ancient ones.
Q. What were the wines like when you were living?
A. They were dark and musky, and warm. They tasted a little like sour water sometimes and at other times sweet like rose petals.
Q. Who made the wine in your community?
A. We had families who passed the trade down from generation to generation. There were families, like in Chaldea, who had been working with the grape for hundreds of years.
Q. Who among you were the first to taste wine?
The fellow in profile speaks
A. When we first tasted it, it came about by accident. One of the servants had left a vase of grapes lying around in a cool dark place and forgot about it. Several weeks later one of the porters was walking around and smelled this sweet odor. He had it brought up to the dining area and we all took bites out of this fruit we knew, but it tasted very different this time. And the juice in the bottom of the vase we all took sips of. This was something we had never experienced before. So we instructed the porters to pick more grapes and let them sit in the basement in the same manner. That was the first time we had seen it.
Q. How did the news of this travel?
A. Slowly at first, but after 400-500 years pretty much everybody in the known world had an idea of the transformative powers of the grape.
Q. And the merchants, how did they fit in?
A. At first, it was seen as a religious ritual, so the merchants stayed away. A tribe of women eventually wound their way through the empire, setting up trade with the Egyptians.
Q. Many times we hear that the Greeks brought wine culture to Italy. Who knows about that in this room?
An Etruscan princess answers
A. We had already started with the grape before the Greeks arrived. We had been going on for several hundred years. What the Greeks did was to bring some new grape types with them, but not superior to the ones we had been cultivating for 500 years.
Q. It seems Ancient Romans loved wine. Poems were written about it, buildings and temples were erected in honor of the god of the grapes.
A. That all is true, but keep in mind we had very little to eat and drink. We were often sick and food went bad quickly. Wine kept, and it kept us well and our bellies full. And it made us happy.
Q. Did the grape have anything to do with the expansion of the Empire(s)?
A. Other than it went where man went? Of course when we conquered Gaul or the Huns or the Britons, we would plant vines and keep the local people collected and subdued. Wine had a part to play in the civilizing factor of the wild tribes.
Q. Last Question. If you were around today, what kind of wine would you like to see? What would you make?
An older Roman answers
A. Listen, I would round up some of my soldiers and head to Toscanium and set that land straight. I?d bring them back to the Jovian roots and light a bloody fire under their feet. And by all the power of Jupiter, we?d bring them back to the flame of truth and all that is holy about the miracle the gods have sent down from the heavens in giving us grape with which to make this precious wine. Anyone caught disrespecting the gift of the gods would be crucified and struck down, their family sent into exile. To go against the Divine Immortals is the worst sin one could commit against the pantheon that rules our ancient souls.
I picked up a nice bottle of good cheap wine: Purple Moon Shiraz from Trader Joe’s. This wine, made in Manteca California, was a pretty typical Shiraz with an atypical price tag. For only $3.99, this turned out to be one of many fantastic selections I made at Trader Joe’s.
I enjoyed this Shiraz with some Trader Joe’s Mild Fresh Salsa… boy! What a match!
It was dark plum in color and lots of fruit, the “dry Shiraz” fans that sampled this wine with me loved it. I enjoyed it at a perfect 54 degrees F, so that may have enhanced my enjoyment of this cheap wine. Now, when I usually write a post I research it on the internet. Aside from some web-spam, this cheap wine didn’t show up at all. Well, I feel this wine deserves some more publicity, so here it is!
Would buy again, without doubt. Stay tuned for my full tribute to Trader Joe’s (and Charles Shaw AKA Two-Buck Chuck)!
Has anyone else tried this? Has anyone been able to get it from places other than Trader Joe’s? Rating: 8/10 Price: $3.99 Place of purchase:Trader Joe’s
It is the time of year for lists. It seems everyone has posted their choices of top or bottom notable events for 2007. In my never ending struggle to be different, and characteristically putting myself on the line, I offer no look back. Instead, I proffer these prognostications.
I have shared my thoughts on future advancements. There is the near certain likelihood that we will see ever more control over everything having to do with growing and making wine. The future is about dialing in character. As well I have glimpsed a future where VineBots revolutionize the vineyard. These are things to come in the long run, but what about in the near future? Here then is my list of what 2008 may offer us.
1) The Internet
This is pretty obvious to someone reading these words on the Internet, but there is more to it than you may think. There has been an ongoing battle behind the scenes regarding who can buy wine from where and have it shipped. Some, backed in large part by the Wine Distributors, want to limit these options. They point to underaged drinking and other red herrings to support their platform of fear. They are losing ground.
More and more wine will be sold over the Internet, and 2008 will be a year of critical mass. I don't mean to imply that more wine will be bought on-line than not, rather I am foretelling a huge rush towards selling on-line. Those already well entrenched will see record sales, those late to the game will be rushing to catch up, and new players will take the center stage (I am even thinking of entering the arena).
Look for big changes at the local level. 2008 may well be the year it becomes common to order your wine on-line from your local store, who will then deliver it for free. As with all Internet businesses it is hard to compete on cost, so it is always better to compete on service.
2) Bye Bye Big Fruit Bombs
Watch for the 2008 harvest to be one where people start talking about terroir and character, and get away from the highly alcoholic wines that have dominated the market for the last few years. There has been a huge amount of press decrying the amount of alcohol in wines, and at least some winemakers are likely to react to the changing sentiment.
Europe is even more likely to market their wines to the US as being food friendly, highly individual wines that emphasize where they were produced.
For the record, I love huge alcoholic, intensely fruity... Zinfandels. I don't look for the same traits in my Cabernet Sauvignon.
3) Baby Steps
The wine vine's genome has been unlocked. While the lay press in particular has been writing about the amazing, and somewhat improbable potential of this, I think most of that potential is still a long way off. The human genome was mapped in 2003, and the world has not dramatically changed, yet.
What we will see this year are the first practical applications being announced. Even these will almost certainly still be at the research stage by the end of the year, but news will be made. Look for disease resistance to be a top priority.
4) The Year of the Container.. or at least the closure.
There is a quiet revolution about to hit our shores. Heavy, expensive, and fragile glass bottles will no longer be the only option for wine lovers. Already we have seen alternative packaging popping up for lesser quality wines, but just as with the screw top, a top producer will take the plunge and change the way we look at packaging.
Speaking of screw tops, they are no longer the only game in town. Nifty new players are starting to make inroads. My favorites of these are the glass enclosure. Sterile, easy to remove and even easier to recycle, there is a lot to be said for them.
And speaking of recycling...
5) Green, Greener, and Greenest
I am hardly going out on a limb to point out that environmental concerns are dramatically changing the market. Organic and Biodynamic are going to be big buzzwords this year.
Let me stick my neck out here and just say to watch out for these terms. Taking care of the land and paying attention to sustainability are important. Ignoring the technical advances of the last 100 years and burying cows heads at the full moon are not as important.
If you like the wine, then by all means support their efforts, but don't fall for hype, and certainly don't settle for less out of green guilt.
Carbon footprint is a term you will hear more in 2008, and one of my favorite ways for a winery to do this (besides geothermal cooling/heating , which only I seem to know about) is to start selling their wines in plastic bottles. Plastic is lighter, cost less to ship, uses less fossil fuels to ship, and it doesn't break as easily.
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And there you have it. My list may be half as many items as most lists these days, but there is more than enough there for you to ruminate over for the year to come. As always I welcome comments, criticism, and above all, investors that want to back my harebrained schemes.
The Saleschick of the Year Award has been awarded to me.
And here's why: At a tasting in a southern suburb of Buffalo yesterday, I sold over a case of a 2005 Altesse.
You read right: Altesse.
I began each pour with the caveat of "I have to warn you, this is a weird one.." I went on to describe the odd almond/cheese/metallic notes that make it a partner for fondue and therefore gravy. I know, the two have NOTHING in common, but it worked, and I honestly do think it would pair well. One woman even bought four bottles, putting back the Chardonnay she was going to serve at Thanksgiving.
In a search for a photo of Altesse to go with this blurb, I re-found one of my favorite sites: The Wine Info Site. In addition to having photos of some supremely esoteric varietals (y'all can find those Hungarian grapes there, if you guys are reading this!), The Wine Info Site is apparently out of The Netherlands and the English translations are sometimes hilarious. Case in point: Altesse is a full-bodied grape variety with plenty of taste, for white wine. It is grown in the Savoie, France. This grape is also called Roussette and produces strong wines with a pleasant dosis of acidity and a herbal taste with a touch of mineral.
I do totally agree about the herbal taste with minerality, but what the schmeck is a 'dosis'? Is that the Latin plural of 'dose'? And I adore that Altesse has plenty of taste "for white wine."
It?s been a very busy week, but after my nice catching up session with Google Reader, here are some treasures worth noting from the RSS pileup:
1)Catavino?sRioja Report and EWBC 2008:Gabriella and Ryan over at Catavino have made a labor of love?an ambitious sort of compendium that is all things Rioja.From regional gastronomy to what else? Los vinos!You can find maps, profiles of wineries, beautiful photography and even a comprehensive explanation of Rioja labeling practices.I also found their buying guide particularly valuable and look forward to bringing it along on some shopping trips in the near future.This kind of stuff is a privilege to be able to look at when you consider other ?regional reports? published by people with a sense of entitlement to wine travel and $60+ annual subscription fees.Ryan and Gabriella are accountable for their material, actively and genuinely elicit and value readers? opinions, suggestions and evince passion for this stuff, so go ahead and bookmark them.
3)Remember Mr. Show?s Worthington Law applied to wine?Looks like the research findings from that CalTech/Stanford study published earlier in the year have been further validated.Working Paper No, 16, published by the American Association of Wine Economists details a new study in which people generally preferred less expensive wines, unless told by researchers of course, that a wine was particularly expensive.
4) If you read Spanish and want to stay up on the latest happenings in the Mendoza wine industry, you may want to bookmark El Blog de Vinos de Argentina.I have been reading their blog for some time now and have found it more and more valuable in terms of getting an inside track on what they?re thinking in Mendoza.As an Argentine, I?ve become a bit tired of receiving my Argentine wine industry news solely from the perspective of English-language consumer magazines.In the Argentine wine-sense, I?m approaching the sort of frustration many over here are feeling with news sources like CNN and FOX?it?s unfortunately limited for my needs.I may not be alone in wanting something like this?I really feel that things would get interesting if insiders from many wine regions only generally covered by shiny-cover magazines began communicating their perspectives directly to readers in a couple of other languages.
5) I would like to issue a preliminary warning before checking out this final note...it is cringe-inducing. I caught this on an Argentine website related to wine news. You'll click on the link and notice the article is written in Spanish, but that won't deter you from making the appropriate inference...Madonna will be contracting some local producer to lovingly craft her own label of Malbec. My comments? Oh hell no. Truthfully though, the nausea actually set in when I read that the label will reportedly be named after "Evita." Whether you are a foreigner and think Evita was a great person or an Argentine who may have the courage to speak up and express a more balanced perspective for the legacy of this famous political figure, one thing's for sure, Madonna could have chosen ANY OTHER variety cultivated in ANY OTHER country. Why us, oh God why us?
I?ve just spent a few hours researching some wines Susan and I are tasting next week. Well, attempting to research would more appropriately describe this exercise in frustration. I?m still astonished how many winery websites are hard to find, poorly laid out, and then give little or no information. Sometimes I dig through page after page after page and finally discover a two-line tasting note ? how exciting.
To all you wineries, if you think this amount of information will have wines flying off the shelves, think again. First of all, by the time most consumers are looking up a wine on the Internet they?ve already tasted it, so they?re after more detail than ?black cherries and leather.? And could you include just a few words on your different vintages? Your 2001 tasting notes are getting a little dated. Besides, I?m sure your 2006 will taste different ? different weather, different harvest conditions, different wine.
How about a little technical information? French Oak or American Oak for example. A few lines covering pH, harvest dates, Brix at harvest, and residual sugar would be nice. Wine geeks will love you and talk up your wines ? free promotion.
I?d also think you would have your labels available for download ? after all, your design person?s already done the graphics in digital format, so just get a copy. Buyers could then print the label and take it to their favorite store as a reminder of what they?re looking for. Wine reviewers would be able add a label to their review or blog ? more free promotion. People could share copies with their friends and family: look at this great wine I just found. Even more free promotion.
People viewing your site aren?t usually there to read all about the owners and how wonderful they are ? at least not at first. Surprise ? top of most people?s hit list are the wines themselves. What grape varieties? What quantities in your Bordeaux style blend? Can we have a little story on the style of wines you are trying to produce? Who is the winemaker and what?s their philosophy, experience, and technique. What does your winery look like ? a picture or two might be nice especially for the folks buying your wine who live across the country.
Oh, and some way of getting a hold of you would be nice ? an email address or phone number would be cool. How can you except to answer questions ? like ?where do I buy your wines?? Or maybe you just like seeing your wines sitting in the warehouse.
None of this actually takes that much effort. Really, it doesn?t. All you need to do is spend a little time and money on your website to make it stand out among the rest. If you want to see what I mean, here are links to a couple of websites that get it right.
Arrow Leaf Cellars in BC?s Okanagan has a site that?s easy to negotiate and includes a contact list, newsletter, pictures of the vineyard, and a great tech sheet. There?s even info on screw caps with a link to the New Zealand Screwcap Wine Seal Initiative ? just in case you haven?t been converted yet.
Down under, Peter Lehmann Wines has another fantastic site ? history, descriptions of the area, info about the winemakers and the wines. After spending time on the site, you want to buy rush out to the store and buy a bottle or two.
And to the winery in Australia who will not put info on their web site because it is too ?techie,? it?s time to get with the Digital Age. You say you?d rather have people come to the cellar door to get info than surf the Net. Yeah, right. I?ll just hop on a plane from Canada right away. Lots of luck selling wines in our local market and no reviews from this quarter. SUSAN'S NOTE:
I confess, I have a severe love/hate relationship with the web. I admire Frank?s ability to search through layers and layers until he comes up with some nugget of information, but I certainly don?t share it. No results after a couple of Google searches and I?m on to something else. And sites that give me no contact information put me into orbit ? Frank usually doesn?t even bother telling me about them any more because then he has to listen to my usually loud, always colourful verbal tirades.
However, one interesting thing did come out of his visit to the ?We don?t believe in an Internet presence? Aussie site. Our debate on whether the owner was simply stupid or was being blatantly arrogant was lively, thoroughly entertaining, and will certainly keep them at the top of our ?Do Not Visit or Buy From? list for a long, long time. FYI: arrogant won hands down.
Note: Photos show the Arrow Leaf Cellars' vineyards and porch area. Wine bottles show Arrow Leaf's Zweigelt and Peter Lehmann's Semillon. Enjoy.
This time of year the wine lover is inundated with T-day wine recommendations..."German Riesling is perfect with turkey"...."A Beaujolais is a sure bet on Thanksgiving"...."Burgundy, both red and white are ideal on your Thanksgiving".....etc. etc.
I for one am tired of staid poultry & stuffing wine pairing suggestions.
How about something different to eat and drink on Friday - the day after turkey day? May I suggest a Vermentino, not from the sardinian coast, but from Lodi, California. Who knew the California version of this hefty-spicy-herby-citrusy grape could be so true to its Italian roots? After racking up mo' mo' credit card debt on Friday, take the edge of with a plate of turkey enchiladas paired to Uvaggio Vermentino 2006 ($10). It will be the best wine-food match you will sample all week.
"Consumer Learnings for Make Benefit Glorious Zinfandel Future" Christian Miller, owner of Full Glass Research?a wine industry research firm?chose this title for a presentation he gave in Paso Robles as a joking reference to the movie Borat. (See the movie's wine episode here.) And it?s pretty appropriate, because depending on who you talk to, zinfandel means different things to different people. There?s an almost Babel-like confusion involved in the language of zinfandel. Some people expect jammy wines. Some people expect spice and pepper. Some people don?t like it because they don?t know what to expect. Only 17% of hard core...
Nearly every day in San Francisco there is a farmers? market to check out, offering not only plenty to taste and buy, but sights, sounds and people-watching.
There are two Montepulcianos in Italy: one is an appellation, the other is a grape. Today, I'm reviewing a wine from Le Marche that's made with that other, grapeyMontepulciano. It is a delicious and affordable wine that would be perfect with any traditional Italian trattoria fare from grilled meats to pizza and pasta.
The 2005 Fattoria Laila Rosso was a very good QPR blend of Montepulciano (80%) and a bit of Sangiovese ($12.95, Chronicle Wine Cellar; find it online for between $13 and $17) Montepulciano grapes carry a lot of pigment in their skin and that gives the wine a dark, blackish-purple color that is rich and cooling. Blackberry and black cherry fruit aromas are clearly present when you uncork this wine and give it a sniff. There's more dark berry and cherry in the flavors, too, along with a bit of roasted coffee bean. The overall impression is not of enormous fruitiness, but fruit kept in check with bitter notes and acidity and a bit of spiciness in the aftertaste. It was a food-friendly wine, and we had it with some spicy chicken in red sauce with penne. Bits of chicken breast are tossed with ground fennel, pepper, and coriander and then sauteed in a pan until golden. After a quick deglaze with some leftover white wine, you simmer lots of garlic and tomatoes until the pasta is cooked, and finish it off with some basil. The wine stood up nicely to the sweet acidity of the tomatoes, and the spicy chicken picked up the nice spicy notes in the wine, as well.
Fattoria Laila is located in the hills of Ancona above the Adriatic Sea. The area's chalky soils are great for Montepulciano. The Rosso Piceno DOC covers an ancient viticultural region. Ancient writers tell us that Hannibal, at a pit-stop along the way to Rome, had his horses rubbed down with red wine from Piceno to give them more energy and strength for the last part of the journey. You can find out more about Rosso Piceno, and an earlier vintage of this wine, at The Wine Lover's Page 30-second Wine Advisor.
As with most of the Italian wines I've had so far, these little known regions and lesser known grapes are capable of combining great quality and traditional Italian flavors with a very attractive price. If you like Chianti or Nero d'Avola, give reds from Rosso Piceno a try. They may become your preferred Friday night pizza and pasta wine.
Kahlua, the number one coffee liqueur in the world, today announced the addition of Kahlua Mocha to its family of premium coffee liqueurs. Available June 2008, Kahlua Mocha will join original Kahlua, Kahlua Especial, Kahlua French Vanilla and Kahlua Hazelnut in retail and on-premise locations in the United States.
Made with a rich blend of 100% Arabica coffee, natural vanilla and real dark chocolate, Kahlua Mocha offers consumers a new way to enjoy their favorite coffee liqueur and retailers the opportunity to enhance category profitability. Kahlua Mocha can be enjoyed over ice, in contemporary cocktails or as a twist on classic Kahlua drinks.
How does one follow up a lunch like the last one? With an appointment to visit an important cellar in the historical center of Alba. Our visit with Ceretto came to an end and we pressed one last espresso into the remaining space we had. Then a few thanks you's and buon lavoro's and a brief walk back to the parked car, to ply the meter with more time. I gave a call to Cesare Benvenuto over at Pio Cesare and begged for directions. ?No problem, walk 100 or so meters down the street from where you are, turn left and it is on the right. Ring the bell and I?ll meet you at the gate.? Huh? No madcap driving through the cobbled streets of Alba to a countryside vineyard? No mud? No stoplights? No getting lost? On time, this time? Was I finally getting the hang of the Langhe?
Young Cesare greeted us warmly at the portal of the Pio Cesare winery. This was a winery that the town of Alba grew up around. How many times had I walked around the town and never knew the winery that slaked around underneath the ancient bricks. All very interesting to realize an historical operation was so cleverly concealed. As if the act of making wine was the most important aspect. Note to Napa: Hide a winery in the middle of St. Helena and make it a seminal one. No tee shirts, no restaurant, no Godfather?s desk. Hmm?
Once inside, we were led past two statues of Italian greyhounds while a little yippy-type dog protected Nona?s garden. Yes there is a matriarch, and her presence gracefully looms over the compound. Cesare remarks that it is only recently that he has moved into his own living space outside the walls. He is starting a family and needs a backyard and room to grow his brood.
Time out: During this recent trip everyone we have met and spent time with has been in their early 30?s. Where are their parents, my contemporaries? Not that I cannot communicate with the younger ones, in fact I often prefer it. But where are they? Have they retired? Are they all on vacation? Do they not feel the urge to stay in the game? Or is that so very American of me, to persevere like an eno-centric Satchel Paige while my colleagues have long gone to the showers? I?m not that old, am I?
In the tasting room, little details of a long life of the winery surface. This is a quaint stop; I would have never thought the Pio Cesare winery to embrace such tradition and to enshrine it along the walls and in the cellars. It?s like finding an old battleship in the depths and then exploring the galleys looking for things left behind.
A tour of the winery. When one goes to places like Rome and sees the excavations of the floor of the ancient city 20-30 feet below the modern city, does anyone else wonder how in that time it was buried below centuries of dust? So it was at this winery, though only a few feet separated the original winery from modern times. Still, two feet is a lot. But Alba has been growing up lately.
Then we run into Rome. About eight feet below we encounter a wall the Romans built over 2,000 years ago.
Turn a corner and here we find a vine planted by Cesare?s great grandfather, in the cellar. Modern day building has formed a roof over what was once an open area, but the vine is established and grows up the dark wall towards the light. These are things one doesn?t often see in a winery, anywhere.
We are walking in a working museum.
In the area where the wine is boxed and prepared to ship, Cesare's uncle Augusto runs by, recognizes me slightly, says hello and proceeds to conquer Russia and Singapore with his wine. So I?m not the only silverback working today. Business is good, the world is flat, seize the opportunity, Augusto.
My young colleague and Cesare hit it off; they have similar trajectories in the wine business and are also in the process of assembling their families. By the time this is written, Cesare should be a proud papa.
After hitting the lowest level of the cellar, where the old wines still rest, we headed back up to taste through the range of wines that are in release. I did my due diligence for the work related business; after all we represent the winery in several states. Those notes are not for these pages, though I will say that the 2004 vintage in Piedmont for Barolo and Barbaresco is stunning. I am breathless when tasting these wines. These are classic wines, in general, and I recommend collectors (young ones) to snag some.
?What are you doing for dinner?? Cesare asks. It is our last night in Italy on this trip, and we have had many, too many, wonderful meals. I am beginning my downward spiral to a state of puny, which persists to this time. ?Please let me take you to a little place in the country that my friends run.? Italians are so graceful. ?No, it is no problem, this is the life we have chosen, please let?s make your last night better by spending some time together.?
We meet at the bottom of the road from where we are staying in Castiglione Falletto and it is a short ride to the restaurant. Il Vignale is located in Roddi, between La Morra and Alba.
It is a restaurant and a country home, with 6 guest rooms starting at ?75.00 for a double. This is a find. And the restaurant and cellar are outstanding. The menu changes with the seasons, but is extremely reasonable. The wine list is just a sampler of what rests in the cellar. Go here, stay here, eat here, make love here.
So after a huge day and a great finish, we headed down to the cellar for a little Barolo Chinato and a farewell to Alba. Cesare and chef Manola along with his partner Rossano led us down through the kitchen into the cellar, where treasures after treasure of red wines from the Langhe, and beyond, slept in peace. A gravel floor and another private cellar (reserved for special wines and foods) were situated beyond where we settled. A little Chinato, a little grappa, a shot of espresso to make the road down passable and that was our night.
As we headed back to Bricco Rocche and our rooms, Cesare led the way so we wouldn?t get lost. We stopped at a road he indicated would get us up to Castiglione Falletto. We then said goodbye and headed up the road a few feet and stopped, waiting for Cesare?s car to disappear. It seemed he had led us to the wrong road (we had gotten lost a few times so we knew when we weren?t on the right road). Then we proceeded to the correct road and raced to tuck ourselves into the comfortable little beds on top of the hill. We were in the right place at the right time.
Argentine wines are not as well-known in North America as those of Chile, but the areas just below the Andes Mountains, such as Mendoza and San Juan, produce excellent, red wines, including Syrah, Pinot Noir, and Malbec, a red wine grape that is at its best when grown in Argentine soil. Learn more about the wines of Argentina in this video from Geobeats.
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Latest news reports suggest that drinking two glasses of wine a day can increase your risk of mouth cancer by up to 75 per cent. See, for example, Cancer drinking danger. Hardly a day goes by without one of these scientific horror stories. And if it's not a horror story then it's wine as a miraculous cure-all.
One of my accounts handed me this wine review, written up by a former employee. "She wasn't all there..." they noted, and went on to say she'd find reviews online and cut and paste without actually reading them. This little gem was up for quite a while until horrified customers noted that they wouldn't buy the wine because the description was so off-putting. I, however, find it to be brilliant and would love to partake in the Ecstatic Singing Mantra whenever it transpires. So I searched for wine reviews of Jest Red online, and apparently, most of this review appeared on A Little Vino Would Be Keeno. Which is clearly now my favorite site. Ever.
"Blended from seven noble grape varietals, the nose is deeply perfumed with wild dewberries, Himalayan breeding musk, and horehound candy, while the flavors, so titillating they may only be disclosed in the Ecstatic Singing Mantra. Pair with beef, pork, pasta with red sauce, cheese or chocolate, or go wild and have it with pizza, burgers or even burritos!"
I'm not quite sure which is the best part of that - is it the Himalayan breeding musk or the pairings? It's sublime on so many levels.
Ever get one of those annoying scam emails asking you to accept stolen credit card numbers and send your product overseas? Who are these scam artists? Who are their victims? Can they be stopped? Dover Canyon Winery has just published a five-part series of articles called Inside a Wine Scam. The series has resulted in FBI subpoenas for the operators accepting money transfers at a remote location in Oklahoma. In a surprising twist, the 'front man' for the scam may herself be a victim of 'work from home' fraud. Part I: How the Wine Scam Works Part II: The 'John...
2002 Grosset Watervale Riesling ? A little bit shy on the nose, but some citrus and floral characters can be noted. Palate has racy acid but is beautifully balanced. Full and long. Lovely wine, drinking well now. 91/100
1989 Jeffrey Grosset Polish Hill Riesling ? Honey, toast and ginger on the nose. Palate is tired, with some prickly acid and rapidly fading intensity. 81/100
1995 Penfolds Yattarna Chradonnay ? Honey, butter, some caramel and pine
Tecnorati
Q. What were the wines like when you were living?
The fellow in profile speaks
An Etruscan princess answers
An older Roman answers
How does one follow up a lunch like the last one? With an appointment to visit an important cellar in the historical center of Alba. Our visit with Ceretto came to an end and we pressed one last espresso into the remaining space we had. Then a few thanks you's and buon lavoro's and a brief walk back to the parked car, to ply the meter with more time. I gave a call to Cesare Benvenuto over at 
Young Cesare greeted us warmly at the portal of the Pio Cesare winery. This was a winery that the town of Alba grew up around. How many times had I walked around the town and never knew the winery that slaked around underneath the ancient bricks. All very interesting to realize an historical operation was so cleverly concealed. As if the act of making wine was the most important aspect. Note to Napa: Hide a winery in the middle of St. Helena and make it a seminal one. No tee shirts, no restaurant, no Godfather?s desk. Hmm?
In the tasting room, little details of a long life of the winery surface. This is a quaint stop; I would have never thought the Pio Cesare winery to embrace such tradition and to enshrine it along the walls and in the cellars. It?s like finding an old battleship in the depths and then exploring the galleys looking for things left behind.
Then we run into Rome. About eight feet below we encounter a wall the Romans built over 2,000 years ago.
We are walking in a working museum.
After hitting the lowest level of the cellar, where the old wines still rest, we headed back up to taste through the range of wines that are in release. I did my due diligence for the work related business; after all we represent the winery in several states. Those notes are not for these pages, though I will say that the 2004 vintage in Piedmont for Barolo and Barbaresco is stunning. I am breathless when tasting these wines. These are classic wines, in general, and I recommend collectors (young ones) to snag some.
It is a restaurant and a country home, with 6 guest rooms starting at ?75.00 for a double. This is a find. And the restaurant and cellar are outstanding. The 
So after a huge day and a great finish, we headed down to the cellar for a little Barolo Chinato and a farewell to Alba. Cesare and chef Manola along with his partner Rossano led us down through the kitchen into the cellar, where treasures after treasure of red wines from the Langhe, and beyond, slept in peace. A gravel floor and another private cellar (reserved for special wines and foods) were situated beyond where we settled. A little Chinato, a little grappa, a shot of espresso to make the road down passable and that was our night.